Athletics

Ahmed Salah, the former World Cup holder from Djibouti, won the 14th Vienna marathon yesterday by four seconds from Fernando Couto of Portugal. The 40-year-old Salah, winner of the World Cup in 1985, finished the course in 2hr 12min 53sec, 3.5sec off the course record set by Gidamis Shahanga of Tanzania in 1990. Running in sunny conditions with a cool wind, Petro Sarafynyuk, of Ukraine, was third, 17sec behind the winner. Another Ukrainian, Tatiana Dzabrailova, won the women's event in a course record of 2:30:54, knocking 50 seconds off the previous women's record set last year by Aurica Buia of Romania.

John Kagwe, of Kenya, won the third running of the Prague international marathon yesterday, narrowly beating his fellow countryman Jackson Kipngok and the Russian Leonid Shvetsov. Kagwe finished the race in 2hr 9min 7sec, 4sec ahead of Kipngok and 9sec in front of Shvetsov.